The Stand- Stephen King (pet semetary and the shining are also worth reading)

Have a look though the HP lovecraft tales (depends on the anthology you pick up as to which ones occur in which volume)- quite a few pretty good ones - try and find one with montains of madness in it to start with

It's easy to forget how much tension one author can pack into such a relatively small number of pages. I think my sanity was preserved by reading it in 2 sittings rather than one due to time, but I was gripped nonetheless.

Loved the style Lovecraft writes in- MoM hooked me from the start. 'I am forced into speech because men of science have refused to follow my advice without knowing why. It is altogether against my will that I tell my reasons for opposing this contemplated invasion of the antarctic - with its vast fossil hunt and its wholesale boring of the ancient ice caps. And I am all the more reluctant because my warning may be in vain.' From there, it starts off benign enough, but it builds and builds. Genius.

I find that the short stories of Lovecraft are best read between big novels of genres based in normality rather than all in one big chunk. Keeps you on your toes, looking over your shoulder. Something is out there brewing in the background of normailty, and the quest to find it has driven many people insane. Conspiracy lovers would thrive on it. In one go, I'd imagine Lovecraft loses some of his impact.

Did you ever think that the Necronomicon might actually exist? That HPL knew something we didn't, that his "fictional" stories were the only way he could tell us about The Old Ones?

Of course, there is a book that came out years ago purporting to be "the real" Necronomicon. I read through it, and it appeared to be the mediocre result of an attempt to sell books through marketing, but hey, you may want to take a look at it.

The foreward, which includes some hilarious accounts of "tragedies" and "odd events" coinciding with the publishing of the book is worth reading, just for laughs.